J THE ;.- ._---- _ :: ,":: 1m . )\\\\\ ...., / 0 0 - 00 . . , o . """,- THE TALK OF THE TOWN A HEADLINE over a recent hook review in the ] "'in'l ej said that Mr Thomas K. Finlettel, the former AIr Force Secretary who may be running for the Senate one of these days, sees the need for "a new stance" in our foreign policy, and on the same day we ran across this we accepted a CapezIo shoe box from our wife with instructions to bury in it d chiplnunk one of the cats had stopped playing with The Capezio shoe box said, of Capeziu shoes, "Half the fun of theatre and dance, they also tdke a fashion stance." Th I f " " . e atter use 0 stance seems Just about perfect to us, but, in more ways than one, we are in doubt about the use of it in the Times headline. \\1 e went through the Times review of Y\ I r. Fin- letter's book with care and found no nlention of "stance," and, too busy with our chores to read Mr. Finletter's book, we don't know whether he used the word himself or whether it was just thought up by the head- line writer. In an) case, after giving the matter a good deal of thought while we were digging the grave for the chip- munk, we found ourself convinceJ that the head- line writer, or Mr. Fin- letter, or whoever was responsible for the thing, was trying to get away from the word "pos- ture," and that in doing so he was, or they were, proceeding in the wrong direction. When you wish to get away from a d l . k " " d wor 1 e posture an hope to find a new word to take its place, the way to go IS backvlal d, not Notes and COmJnCJlt f- ' t l ' j " ; "..:'" . ,,*,:" .;;'i . " , .' .1 < '. c'\<.; .,.,,( . '. t9- .,\ N q. . l 1Jtl ..7' \J.í:,.,..' :.. f. , ..t -i ù"f,/;'. · f 'Î - ...- , ,... it' I.... {'- . . . ' WJ " -:'- >' l. !..: .' '<" :. unl1lisLlkable inlpl int of unpremedI- tated dl1lbiguity that is ordinarily found only in advertising slogans, though not in the advertising slogans of the Capezio-shoe people. It stems from a fashion designer-not a shoemaker- who sought, sonle years back, to gIve the ladles "a new look." But what the fashion designer had in mind was mak- ing the lady look new, not looking at her in a new way, ur adopting, in order to e:\.anline her, a new posture, stance, tilt, lean, stretch, or squat. Thus "tak- ing a nCVl look" relniflds th ordinar) citi7en, no Inatter what his politics ma) be, or whether he is fonder of dogs tha he is of C1 ts, or even if he is on the fence about ]l controversial questions-it re- l1linds hinl vagueh, we claim, of an outmoded getup and suggests that who- ever is doing it is "takln 0- " or ac q ui r i n O' b" b possession of, saIne. After " k o ta Ing a ne\\7 look" was " " worn out, posture was adopted, 1nd If it is nO\\7 worn out, as the Tzmf's headline writer and per- haps ]Vi r. Finletter seem to feel, that is a good thing, beca use it, too, bellows wIth unintended obfusca- tion when used in connec- tion ",,'ith international af- fairs, ,1nd is misleading and pro b ,1 hI, unfathomable. There IS no way of telling whether "posture" means how vve st lnd or whether it 111e,)llS how we wIsh other l1('ltions to think we stand, dnd it is entirely too close to the word "impos- ture" to be of dnv USe to thc C('lpezio-shoe people. " s ". 1 f d .... t,1l1ce IS ess con oun - ing, but it brings games of sport to nlind, and we can see that any Democrat who hdS sought refuge in "stance" is going to dive off before he has got set forward. If you go for\Ndrd, you will 1 O k " " d soon 1a \ e a nc et} stance un er you, and if J ou keep going forward, you will have no alternative e:\.cept to proceed to S0111C other word having to do with onle other position of a vertical, station- dry human bod} in order to save your- self from the disaster of becoming tongue-tied. ,,-l \ ertical, stationary hu- man body hasn't much leewa} , and can only tIlt, lean, bow, stretch, or squat. None of these positions is attractive when assumed by the mOst powerful free na- tion in the world, and putting a "new" in front of any of the words that you'}} tr) to clÎ1nb up on after you go forward f " ". . d rOln stance IS not gOIng to 0 YOll any good. The whole unfortunate trend began, in our opinion, when the Republicans discovel ed the phrase "tak- ing anew look." rrh at ph rase h:1s th e .I., .-,: .: ;1 . j \. .... OJ..._ A Í' f. ',J /; .:; f.s' ?;? r r . !: :.:- " it. --r...........- ,.. ...f "-,'" t" 1" ..(. f" '1 ". " ... . J. . ;:) . \.-:" ( .... , l ., . -" {!( lWk "1 -c " 1', f . ..... -' '" ' ' ': '....:-' ' , . "'.....1 'A: I; :'.. '. &t '. ."" . ' ,>" .h :::' ';;: :9) { '". )